BJP spearheads campaign for a grand memorial at Ambedkar's house in Delhi

By Kallol Bhattacherjee

26 Alipore Road is too quiet to be an important political address inDelhi. Apart from the silence, the unkept lawns and the general lookof desolation tell a tale of neglect. Those who come to visit thishouse near the Delhi Assembly and the Delhi University campus can beheard murmuring about its deplorable state.

It was here that Bhim Rao Ambedkar lived in his final days. It washere that he worked on the Constitution. More importantly for hisfollowers, it was here that he breathed his last. Fifty-four yearsafter his death, his followers are demanding a grand memorial on theplot. Cutting across party lines, Ambedkar followers have cometogether for this cause.

Predictably, around the silent house on Alipore Road, a lot ofpolitics has begun targeting the United Progressive Alliance.Intriguingly, the movement acquired force a few days after the deathof anti-Congress stalwart and RSS patriarch Nanaji Deshmukh onFebruary 27. At a meeting in New Delhi's Constitution Club, toremember Nanaji's contribution to the Indian democracy, IndreshGajbhiye, BJP Dalit leader from Madhya Pradesh, spoke about having asuitable monument at 26 Alipore Road.

Soon, what should have been the concern of the Bahujan Samaj Party washijacked by the BJP. So much so that a part of the discussion abouthow to go about the political agitation regarding the house was alsocarried out at the Deendayal Research Institute (Deendayal ShodhSansthan, of which Nanaji was the founder) when Gajbhiye arrived therea day later to discuss Ambedkar's legacy with some friends. It wasclear that most of this mobilisation around Ambedkar's house was to betinged with an anti-Congress flavour.

"It is time we ask why was Ambedkar's body flown out of Delhi toMumbai by Nehru? Every great leader was cremated in Delhi. ButAmbedkar was cremated in Mumbai. It was a move by Nehru to curtail thestature of Ambedkar at the national stage," Gajbhiye said, underliningthat Delhi should have its Ambedkar landmark before the next generalelection.

Dalit activists have identified four pilgrimage centres related toAmbedkar. The first is at Mhow, his birthplace, and the second atChaityabhoomi on Dadar beach where he was cremated. The third is thefamous Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur where Ambedkar embraced Buddhism. Thefourth, according to Gajbhiye, is 26 Alipore Road. According to him,Mayawati tried unsuccessfully to hijack the Ambedkar legacy, whichbelongs to all Dalits cutting across party lines. "People aregravitating towards the last resting place of Babasaheb Ambedkarbecause they are tired of the bankruptcy of Dalit politics which isfocused on personalities," Gajbhiye said.

The leadership of the Ambedkar house campaign has been quietly usurpedby the BJP. This, however, did not happen overnight. The BJP'spro-Dalit symbolic politics has been on for quite some time. The partychose Nagpur as the venue of its 2009 national executive and nationalcouncil meetings. Given the presence of Deekshabhoomi in the city, themeeting acquired a latent Ambedkarite colour. To this was added somesymbolic gestures made by the then BJP president Rajnath Singh. On hisway to Nagpur, Rajnath went to Mhow and was welcomed by Gajbhiye, whotook him to Ambedkar's birthplace. "These symbolic gestures broughtthe party close to the Dalits," said Gajbhiye, who is grooming himselfas the tallest Dalit leader in the saffron party.

After Ambedkar's death, his house in Delhi was taken over by theJindals who carried out renovations. Growing pressure from the NDAgovernment forced them to transfer ownership of the house to theCentre. According to Dalit thinker Chandra Bhan Prasad, the Centre hasnever been comfortable in dealing with Ambedkar's revolutionaryaspects and this has reflected in the maintenance of places associatedwith him.

"The house is not properly maintained and the belongings of Ambedkarare not properly kept for viewing," said Udit Raj, a Dalit leader."Compared to memorials of Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, the lastresting place of Ambedkar is a shame for anyone interested in hisvision of a casteless India," he said.

Gajbhiye and others feel Ambedkar was never the chosen Dalit messiahof the Congress, which had a tall Dalit leader in Babu Jagjivan Ram.Since Jagjivan Ram was perceived by many as a rival of Ambedkar, manyAmbedkar followers blame the UPA government for highlighting Jagjivan.

Surprisingly, some Congress leaders are reportedly supporting theAmbedkar house campaign. Irrespective of whether the house is finallyconverted into a grand memorial to Ambedkar or not, the biggest gainerfrom the political movement would be the BJP, which according toGajbhiye, is in the process of discovering the Dalit factor afresh.

In the middle of this politics is the debate over Ambedkar's decisionto embrace Buddhism. According to Gajbhiye, Ambedkar proved that hewas not in favour of giving up the Bharatiya way of life by embracingBuddhism, a home-grown religion. Gajbhiye says that thisinterpretation should make Ambedkar more acceptable to the RSS andpropel it to protect Dalit interests.

Dalit leaders like Udit Raj, Ram Vilas Paswan, Gajbhiye andSatyanarayan Jatiya have come together targeting the UPA for itsinability to protect Ambedkar's memory. They are frank about anypolitical opposition that might emerge out of this meeting of minds."If the Dalits can play a greater role in the country's politics inthe coming days, why should they hesitate? After all, it is notnecessary that they have just one party [BSP]for looking after theirinterests," said Udit Raj. For the moment, Ambedkar enthusiasts arebusy organising meetings and marches for building a grand memorial at26 Alipore Road. On April 30, they plan to have a huge human chain inNew Delhi.

ALLAHABAD: Though the villages of the Allahabad division present a neglected picture but the condition of about 114 Ambedkar villages coming under the Allahabad division has been transformed as it has achieved cent per cent target in the development indices. The divisional commissioner has congratulated the district magistrates and administrative officials of Allahabad, Kaushambi, Fatehpur and Pratpgarh district.

It is pertinent to mention that there are about 38 Ambedkar villages in Allahabad district, 33 in Kaushambi, 23 in Pratapgarh and 20 in Fatehpur district.

Large funds for the holistic development of the Ambedkar villages were sanctioned. All these Ambedkar villages have been electrified for which an amount of Rs 628 lakh was spent.

The roads of these villages have also been repaired and given proper shape. Special emphasis has been given to villages inhabitated by scheduled caste/scheduled tribe people. For this purpose, an amount of Rs 4560 lakh were spent.

Further, the work of laying Kharanja roads and construction of drains has also been undertaken. For this purpose, an amount of Rs 7555 lakh was spent.

Divisional commissioner Ajay Kumar Upadhyaya has asked the district officials to maintain transparency in the work and replicate the same in other villages of the division.

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ALLAHABAD: Though the villages of the Allahabad division present a neglected picture but the condition of about 114 Ambedkar villages coming under the Allahabad division has been transformed as it has achieved cent per cent target in the development indices. The divisional commissioner has congratulated the district magistrates and administrative officials of Allahabad, Kaushambi, Fatehpur and Pratpgarh district.

It is pertinent to mention that there are about 38 Ambedkar villages in Allahabad district, 33 in Kaushambi, 23 in Pratapgarh and 20 in Fatehpur district.

Large funds for the holistic development of the Ambedkar villages were sanctioned. All these Ambedkar villages have been electrified for which an amount of Rs 628 lakh was spent.

The roads of these villages have also been repaired and given proper shape. Special emphasis has been given to villages inhabitated by scheduled caste/scheduled tribe people. For this purpose, an amount of Rs 4560 lakh were spent.

Further, the work of laying Kharanja roads and construction of drains has also been undertaken. For this purpose, an amount of Rs 7555 lakh was spent.

Divisional commissioner Ajay Kumar Upadhyaya has asked the district officials to maintain transparency in the work and replicate the same in other villages of the division.

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The Indian English feature film Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar directed by Jabbar Patel will speak in Tamil soon. Tamil Nadu State Information Minister Paridi Ilamvazhuthi announced the state government decision to dub the film in Tamil for the benefit of the Tamil people at the legislative assembly recently. According to the minister the state government has approached the National Film Development Corporation of India who is the producer of the original version to create the Tamil version as well. The state government has also decided to give ten lakh rupees as subsidy for the dubbing work.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is a film about the life of B. R. Ambedkar who was the first law minister of independent India and the architect of Indian constitution. The English original was released in the year 2000. Mammootty played the title role of Ambedkar and won the National Award for Best Actor.

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K. Rajaratnam, economics teacher and a leader of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, passed away here on Wednesday. He was 89 and is survived by a son and three daughters.

Born and raised in Tirupati, Professor Rajaratnam obtained his doctorate in economics from the London School of Economics after completing his college education at the Madras Christian College, Chennai. He taught at various colleges, including the Andhra Christian College, Guntur, the Madras Christian College, Chennai, and at the University of Madras.

He was president of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and chairman of the Commission of Dalits and Adivasis' Concern of the NCCI. He introduced new departments such as the Division of Social Action, New Gurukul Theological College and Research Institute, and the National Lutheran Health Medical Board, which led to the establishment of the Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong, of which his son K.M. Shyamprasad is now the Chancellor.

Professor Rajaratnam established the Centre for Research on New International Economic Order (CReNIO) recognized by the UGC, Madras University and Bharatidasan University for Ph.D. and M.Phil. studies, and he was active during his stint at the University of Madras in various capacities.

He was involved with various NGOs especially working on Dalits and rural issues in Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Mr. Shyamprasad said he was active in education and social causes and had stepped down as the Master of Serampore College last month.

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LUCKNOW: Yet another slip of tongue has landed UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi in a fresh controversy. Famous for her no-holds-barred one-liners, Joshi went a little overboard at a public rally on Wednesday and took a swipe at CM Mayawati's penchant for raising statues that are dark and not pleasing aesthetically.

Addressing a 'Kisan Naujawan Rally' at Haraiyya, a small hamlet in Basti, Joshi had questioned the logic behind Mayawati's obsession with installing "statues so dark that their ears and nose cannot be seen. (Kali-kali moortiyan jinke naak aur kaan bhi nahin samajh mein ate hain)." And though her intent, she emphasizes, was "not to attack any person but inanimate object", her "colourful" language has left party colleagues red-faced amid rumours of a legal action being contemplated against their chief.

Later, Joshi pleaded not to be misquoted. "I have said nothing personal against the CM." She said her remarks cannot be termed derogatory. "My statement is being distorted. I am not the kind who would make a snide comment over colour or creed."

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It is very symbolic that the ire of people built up against price riseall over the country was so easily punctured by the government withthe Women's Reservation Bill. Unlike earlier times in its tumultuoushistory of 14 years, it has already been passed in the Rajya Sabha andcould well be passed in the Lok Sabha but for the opposition of Yadavsand Mayawati. The UPA has decided to table it in the next session,perhaps to use it to overcome another crisis. Reservation in thiscountry has proved to be a potent weapon in the hands of rulingclasses to raise public passion and control political barometer.Indeed it is strategic that UPA holds on to it as long as possible.Because if it is passed and made into law, it will lose a weapon inhand until it creates another reservation bill. Of course, there is nodearth of demands for reservation; going by the trend they may ratheroutlive the polity.

From an Exception to Proliferation

The provision of reservation came as an exception to the fundamentalright to equality in favour of the scheduled castes (SCs), whosuffered deep entrenched social prejudice against them and thescheduled tribes (STs), who were physically detached from themainstream society and potentially faced the same fate as thescheduled castes. Prejudice was such that no matter what attributesthey possessed, the society would not accept them anywhere other thanwhere they were traditionally supposed to be. The reservations to theSCs, as a matter of fact had come through the colonial times and itwas just a matter of continuation of what already existed postindependence. To that was added the STs. The Constitution makersfailed to attribute this exception to the disability of the Indiansociety to treat its own people equal and vaguely associated it withbackwardness of these communities. Had it done so, the reservationwould have had self terminating logic: motivating the larger societyto do away this disability and hence the reservation itself at theearliest possible time. Unfortunately, the way it is couched, has madethe reservations self perpetuating.

Apart from the reservations to the SCs and STs, the Constitutionempowered the state to make special provisions for the advancement ofthe classes which are 'socially and educationally backward'. Thespecial measures do not necessarily mean replication of the quotasystem as for the SCs and STs. But its default meaning was taken assuch by politicians to forge reservation into a political weapon tomanipulate people. The cardinal criterion for reservation in a countrylike India characterized by pervasive backwardness can only be theinsurmountable social prejudice, which leaves no other viable optionthan an exceptional measure such as the countervailing force of thestate to counter it. Quota verily represents that force. Thiscriterion cannot be diluted to backwardness. The special measures tobe taken for others to remove the ubiquitous backwardness could wellbe to ensure that the few traditional elites do not get furtherenriched by the developmental investments of the states at the cost ofmultitude of masses. Despite reservation galore, this is preciselywhat has not happened in India. The rich have been getting richer andthe poor poorer.

With huge empowerment of the landed middle castes as a result of thepost-independence Nehruvian modernist project comprising land reformsand the green revolution, among others, drastically changed the courseof politics in the country. The elite of these amorphous middle castestaking advantage of the caste ties and the electoral systemconsolidated themselves to wield enormous economic, social andpolitical power and threatened the monopoly of the traditional rulingcastes. The phenomena of emergence of regional parties from mid 1960sand inauguration of coalition era from mid 1970s is manifestation ofthis process. The main plank of their consolidation was the rhetoricagainst the upper castes and the hatred for Dalits, perceived asunduly pampered with reservation. The elites of the BCs couldskillfully transform the popular grudge against reservations for theSCs and STs into the passion for their extension to other backwardcastes, thus setting into motion the competitive backwardness to claimreservation.

The Mandal reservations to the BCs eventually opened the pandora'sbox. Now, the reservations are naturally being demanded by allconceivable categories. Muslims are closer to getting it, thanks tothe Sachar committee recommendations. Dalit Christians should not bevery far. There is a demand for reservations to poor among the uppercastes and of course the incipient demands for splitting the quotaaccording to sub castes and sub sub-castes. With increasing crisis forpeople, reservation projected as panacea is bound to get proliferatedbeyond limits.

Have Reservations Really Worked?

Before extension of this exceptional principle to all and sundry, theresponsible polity would evaluate whether it has served the originalpurpose in its prototype form in the case of SCs and STs. If weobjectively look at the evidence, one could definitely say that it hascatalyzed huge spread of education among these communities and causedsignificant socio-economic development through the employment ingovernment and public sector. Although extremely limited in itspotential, its motivational impact has been tremendous.Notwithstanding these positive aspects, like any other developmentalscheme without remedial mechanism, it has accentuated inequality amongthese castes. The people (and the castes) with first movers advantageincreasingly monopolized its benefits and left the rest relativelypoorer. While the beneficiaries are individuals or their families,with the ruling idiom of caste, it engendered feelings of resentmentagainst the beneficiary castes, and provided fodder for the vestedinterests to further divide these castes.

This flaw in the policy could be easily plugged by bringing in anon-caste criterion of a family unit. The prospective reservationshould be considered applicable to the families, which have not yetavailed of reservation. (see my article Reservation withinReservation, EPW --). This is simple and doable solution but it wouldnot be accepted by the political class as it takes away caste, whichhas been their golden goose.

In addition, there is political reservation which is ignorantly mixedup with the reservation in education and employment available to theSCs and STs. It came from the Poona Pact between Gandhi and Ambedkarin 1932 as a compromise to do away the grant of separate electoratesin the Communal Award of Ramsay McDonald. At the time of itsincorporation into the Constitution, Ambedkar himself was not sureabout its efficacy and wanted it only for 10 years. However, thisreservation has been getting unanimously extended before it is due toexpire by the ruling class parties. From this broad evidence also onecould surmise who the real beneficiaries of this reservation are. But,even beyond this, one could find out whether it has benefitted theDalits masses for whom it was meant. The answer is in definitenegative. Late Kanshiram summarized his assessment of this policy inhis pamphlet, 'chamcha yug' (the era of stooges). It produced totallycontrary result to what was perhaps intended. Instead of creating aproportionate representation of Dalits in the legislative bodies, ithas completely decimated their representation by producing stooges outof Dalit politicians. While in numbers, this reservation, unlikeothers, has been always fully implemented; it has never meant even afeeble voice of Dalits in legislature. The so called Dalitrepresentatives have been always subservient to their ruling classupper caste bosses to whom they owed their existence. It only createda political class among Dalits, which fattens itself on the politicalrent derived from the ruling classes.

Reservation to Women

The current bill purporting to give 33 percent reservation to women instate legislatures and Lok Sabha is also destined to becounterproductive in a much bigger measure. There are no two opinionsthat women who hold up half the sky are short-shrifted in the maledominated world and that they should rightfully own up at least halfof the world. There is no dispute about their suffering myriad formsof discriminations and atrocities: As children, they are discriminatedin food, health, education; as adult women they are discriminated inchoice of livelihood, wages, and suffer physical abuse and rape. Therecannot be any controversy therefore about the need to stop injusticeon them and restore what is rightfully theirs but unjustly denied tothem. The issue is about the way of doing it.

Firstly, women are a very generic and broad category, comprisingcastes, classes, races, and communities of all kinds. Despite thehistory of over 150 years of women's movement, they have not achieveda coherent voice and rather showed up as inevitable splintering inrecent years. There is nothing common for instance between an urbanupper caste woman and a typical Dalit woman in a village. The formerthough suffering subtle discrimination in patriarchal society enjoysenormous social power whereas the latter is triple-oppressed, as beingpoor, Dalit and a woman. The mainstream concept of women's liberationtherefore is alien to Dalit women. As a reaction, they have beenobserving their women's liberation Day on 25th December, (instead of8th March) the day the Manusmriti was burnt during the Mahadconference. Its stance is not against men but against the mainstreamwomen's movement that seeks to overlook the oppression of majoritywomen. There is a tendency seen in even other caste and communitygroups to articulate their dissent against the mainstream women'smovement.

Secondly, the idea of reservation has been problematic with regard toits professed objective but certainly useful to politicians.Reservation by design promotes the interests of the better placed onesamong the target population. As a result, while a small section of thepopulation progresses, the rest is left behind. At the time whenreservation was conceived for the SCs and STs, these considerationswere not material simply because there was no visible elite amongthem. Whosoever came up was to be a role model for the rest and wassupposed to represent their interests. Now that the second and thirdgenerations of beneficiary Dalits are around, the evils of reservationsystem have surfaced clearly. The demand for categorizationarticulated by Madiga Dandora may not be maintainable in many ways butcannot simultaneously be dismissed as baseless or motivated. The pointis that it basically bares the limitation of reservation policy. Sincereservation for the SCs and STs is premised on the social prejudice,its outright abolition is out of question in view of these prejudicesstill visible, but there is certainly a case for plugging theirobvious lacunae.

Politics behind Progressive Veneer

The situation at the time of instituting first reservation no moreexists for any segment of population, least with women today. The allpervasive clamor for reservation today can be considered assymptomatic of our unscrupulous politics. The proposed women'sreservation is also not beyond it. It has extended its hands beyondcastes and communities to a new terrain of gender. Ever since, therise of the middle castes ushering in the coalition era of governance,our traditional ruling classes, innured as they are to monopoly power,have been uncomfortable. While other reservation issues can be rakedup, they have small potential and uncertain outcome. However, if theycould bring in vast population such as women's, under the purview ofreservation, they could hope to cross the coalition barrier. Women'sreservation bill in the current form can benefit the major politicalparties, with relatively more feudal hold on population than others,in getting their women elected to disproportionately more number ofreserved seats to improve their tally. Behind its progressive veneer,this appears to be the motivation.

The objection of Mayawati and Yadavs to the bill for not providingquota for the SCs, STs, BCs and Minorities actually smack of thisprecise fear that the bill if passed in the present form would erodetheir base. In face of it, it would appear misfounded, but in realityit may not. While there will not be any difference to theconstitutional reservation for the SCs and STs, in case of others thedisturbance in constituencies due to rotational system proposed in thebill, the more entrenched political halo of traditional politicalfamilies would score over the parties such as BSP and SP. This may noteven be remedied by reserving seats for BCs and minorities.

As regards its core objective, it is naïveté to believe that thisreservation would benefit oppressed section of women. If even in arelatively cohesive population like Dalits, the political reservationhas produced huge negativity, the outcome of the political reservationto women, as disparate as Indian society, fragmented by castes,classes, communities, religions, languages, regions and so on, couldonly be expected to be worse. What way more number of elite women inparliament going to empower Dalit women in a village? Largely, theseladies would act as proxy of their men benefactor, who got themelected with their political halo, money and muscle power. Women'swoes are not as much a matter of legislation as it is a matter ofsocietal attitudes, which could be challenged at the level of practiceand arrested by an efficient administration. In this way, reservationat the Panchayat level becomes more important than this one. Also, ifthere is a real political will for improving the situation of women,it would be better achieved by instilling gender sensitivity in theadministration and making it accountable.

Progressive Automatons

Empowerment of women is laudable objective. The pathetic state ofwomen in our country cries for urgent action to improve theirsituation. India ranks shameful 114 among 134 countries of the worldon the scale of gender equality. This situation cannot be remedied byinstituting lopsided reservation. Increased representation of women inour legislature bodies is certainly desirable but if it is going to bemere surface reality and contrarily reinforcing the traditional powerstructure, it needs to be rethought. Most issues of democraticrepresentation sought to be solved through reservation perhaps couldbe resolved better in the electoral system of proportionalrepresentation as proposed by many analysts. It may be worthwhile tohave a national debate on these issues than rush with stereotypicalsolutions.

It is a pity that our national life is governed by stereotypes.Reservation as a universally progressive policy is one suchstereotype. It has assumed the status of a holy cow for ourprogressive people. That is unfortunate because it makes so much easyfor the ruling classes to play havoc with the polity. Reservation inthe Indian society divided with numerous fault lines is intrinsicallyfraught with many lacaunae, which could turn it quitecounterproductive if not conceived properly. It is being certainlyused effectively by the ruling classes as a strategic tool tomanipulate people. Our progressive automatons need to learn this basicfact.

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